The babysitter
by marsblackshot
Summary: After graduating from the medicine college, Elise seems unable to get a stable job making it harder for her to pay the rent of her apartment. Her cousin Molly helps her by telling her she'd found a temporarly job with some friends of her. This drives Elise to meet Sherlock Holmes and his partner Dr. John Watson whose offer of work takes her into something she never wanted.
1. Chapter 1

It was really dark, a white smoke came out of the pipes of the tunnel and my eyes followed a bloody path.

_Please, let him be alright, please_.

I couldn't feel my legs while I ran. The adrenaline had taken over me in that exact moment and the only thing that went through my mind was…_Hamish. _I should've stayed with him, I never asked for any of this to happen.

My steps echoed as I kept on running. It was a labyrinth and I was lost. I leaned against a wet wall and took deep long breaths. The sound of water drops hitting the ground was my only companion. I tightened my hands into fists and heard myself sobbing. I should've stayed with him, I never asked for any of this to happen.

Anger, fear, cold, worriedness, everything accumulated in my chest only made it harder for me to continue. My head started spinning and in a matter of seconds I fell to the ground.

My body got rigid and my heartbeat accelerated. I heard footsteps, someone was getting closer. I struggled to get up, but fell again making my flashlight to roll down the tunnel until I couldn't reach it. I turned my head to look back; the last thing I saw was a dark silhouette, then I fainted.

* * *

I looked from the "pride and prejudice" book that I was reading to the clock that hung from the wall; it marked 1:00 pm. A frustrated sigh escaped from my lungs before getting up from the couch and put on my coat.

When I arrived to the café, I could see through the window that my cousin was having a quite animated conversation with two men. As soon as I got inside Molly waved at me telling me to sit with them.

"I thought you'd never come so I sent you some texts, didn't you see them?" the ginger greeted me with her usual innocent smile.

"Yeah, well…my battery died" I responded and then looked down at the other two men that were sitting with her.

"Oh, let me introduce you. This is the doctor John Watson" Molly stated as a blonde man stood up and shook my hand.

"Hi, nice to meet you" John said smiling at me. He seemed like a nice person, a very kind type of person I must say.

"My pleasure.." I replied smiling back at him and then I looked up to the other man, the very opposite of the blonde. A dark haired man, relatively taller than the blonde, at least 6'2'' ft and he also looked somehow clever. His expression had been serious since I arrived so I couldn't tell if he was mad or if he was just serious.

"And this is Sherlock Holmes" Suddenly a slight smile appeared on the man's face as he grabbed my hand.

"H-Hi.." was the only thing I could say before he spoke.

"You're sick…" the man said as our hands met and for the first time I felt my heartbeat had stopped.

"Sherlock" John called him in a warning tone. The dark haired looked at him and then back at me.

"Sorry, never mind" Mr. Holmes apologized sitting back down. My gaze went from John to Molly who just gestured me to sit with them.

"So, do you have any experience with children?" John asked after taking a sip from his cup of tea.

"Well, I'm a pediatric, I just got my major degree but I used to do my professional practices in a pediatric clinic".

"And she used to take care of her little brother as well" Molly added.

Mr. Holmes got his hands resting on the table, he didn't say a word during the whole time we'd been there sitting and drinking tea.

"That seems great, and you're very young to have just graduated" John said impressed. He'd told us he'd been at Afghanistan as a doctor and as soon as he got back he started sharing a flat with Mr. Holmes.

"Thank you, but pardon my curiosity, why does my experience with children have to do with this?" I looked at both men. Mr. Holmes looked other way and surprisingly, after an hour without saying a word, he spoke.

"We need assistance. From all twenty candidates interviewed you seem the most prepared and trustful".

"And by assistance…you mean?" I asked getting kind of tired about this game of words.

"Babysitting" John said.

And awkward silence fell over our table. I didn't know how to react to this; they were a gay couple asking me to take care of their child.

"God, twenty babysitters…" I muttered. I couldn't spend the time fixing my thoughts; they were waiting for me to accept their offer so I cleared my throat.

"We thought you might accept the job, and besides you seem to need the money right now, so what do you say?" John asked me. I clearly needed the money more than ever, and a job, so it took me less than ten seconds to respond.

"You've got yourselves a babysitter, Mr. Watson" I said as I shook hands with him.

"Oh, well that was fast!" John smiled at me and then looked back at Mr. Holmes, who seemed kind of annoyed but not mad. "I hope you brought your wallet".

"Wait, you…made a bet?" Molly said before taking the last sip of her cup of tea.

"Certainly" Mr. Holmes sighed as he took out an envelope of his coat and handed it to me. "Here's the direction to our flat and the first half of your payment" he stood up, followed by John, and fixed his blue scarf. "You will get the other half when we're back".

"Where are you going?" my cousin asked while I observed the envelope carefully. I couldn't and I didn't pay attention to what John was telling Molly.

"Elise" John called and I turned to look at both men now standing in front of me and Molly. "I think we'll see you tomorrow morning".

"Yeah, I'll be there!" I shook hands with him and then glanced at Mr. Holmes. His icy blue eyes seemed to pierce your soul every time you looked into them. But his first words to me echoed in my mind.

_You're sick._

Mr. Holmes shook hands with me anyways and, surprisingly, a smile illuminated his face changing his seriousness into approval in a matter of seconds. They said goodbye to Molly as well after Mr. Holmes paid the bill, and then they left.

My head felt dizzy and I swear my cheeks were flushing pink but I didn't pay attention to it until Molly seemed to notice and smiled slightly.

"They're nice, aren't they?" she sighed "But don't mind about what Sherlock said, he never thinks before speaking…even though his brain is always doing it" She reassured me. I wasn't nervous or shocked.

"How did he know?" the question left my lips in a whisper as I looked down at my hands that were placed around my cup of coffee. "Did you tell them?".

"No" Molly responded and I looked up to her "Do you remember that friend; I used to talk to you all about some time ago?" I started to make connections in my head but thinking was not by my side this time. I just wanted to know how Mr. Holmes knew about my disease. "That's him…Sherlock Holmes".

"He's the consulting detective…the one that can deduce your whole life in a blink of an eye" I'd heard the name before, in many websites and even the newspaper. He and John Watson had been solving criminal cases and murderers for some time.

"The one and only, but don't worry you just need to get used to him and what a great chance you got by taking care of his son".

"Well this will sure be a new experience for me…gay couples who need babysitters" I took the last sip of my coffee before Molly and I left the café.

Molly insisted in taking me home even if I lived just three blocks far from the café, but she took me anyways. I entered to the flat and left my coat and my purse in the sofa before throwing myself on it and putting my hands in my face. I didn't open the envelope at the café; I leaned forward and searched for it in my purse until I found it.

I observed the envelope carefully and then opened it. I found the half of the payment in it and a note with the address. It was in Baker Street, not very far from where I lived so I could walk there. My phone rang all of a sudden and reached for it in my purse.

**Tick, Tock**

There was nothing else written in the message. It had come from an unknown number so I thought of it as a joke and left it on the kitchen table ignoring the whole thing. I took the money out of the envelope and put it inside a bottle that I used as a bank before hiding it inside my wardrobe. I changed my clothes and lay down in bed until I got sleepy.

My eyes glanced from the ceiling to the window. The sound of cars and people started to fade away as I started to fall asleep, thinking of how things started to get better.

Or so I thought.


	2. Chapter 2

_Stupid cold_, I told to myself while wrapping myself with my arms trying to get some heat as I walked to 221b Baker Street. I could've taken a cab but I had to insist in walking, I didn't bring that much money with me and I didn't even know what Mr. Holmes and Watson plans were.

A case, it must be one of those cases where they found mutilated bodies in a grimy attic. What was I even thinking? Of course they would go in to find the responsible for something like that, Mr. Holmes was a detective after all.

There was this Speedy's café outside the flat that John had told me. I turned to look from it to the principal door. There it was, 221b. I walked up the steps and rang the bell, in a matter of seconds an old but enthusiastic woman opened the door and smiled widely at me. She was wearing a green dress with a brown belt.

"Hello, you must be the babysitter, am I right?" She clapped waiting for me to answer.

"Yes, you're right, I'm Elise Overland" I stretched my hand and she shook it excitedly.

"Elise, what a lovely name! I am Mrs. Hudson, the landlady, oh but come in, come in" She opened the door widely; I cleaned my shoes on the welcome carpet and walked in. Mrs. Hudson walked up the stairs in front of me until we reached another door then she turned to look at me. "Wait here, sweetie" I nodded and leaned against the wall.

Mrs. Hudson opened the door and went inside; she seemed to be checking if they were home but surely they were. Suddenly a very strong noise came from inside the flat, I could hear Mrs. Hudson almost shouting as she moved things from one way to another.

"I've told you to keep these out of Hamish's sight!" the woman said and the door flung open again "All done, you can come in".

It was a nice place, small but very comfortable I must say. My eyes glanced at every corner of the living room, there were bookshelves filled with different types of books in them, a desk with even more books and folders. Then I noticed a skull.

"Okay, this is…new" I turned my eyes from the skull to the mirror, it was full of images of several places and there were also notes written on them or in yellow post-it notes. One of them was placed in the middle of the mirror with a word written in red.

"Masque…" I said in a barely audible voice.

Then a sharp object flung across the living room and landed at least ten inches far from me making me jump and let out a squeak.

"A theatrical entertainment that included poetry, singing and dancing, performed in the 16th and 17th century, especially in a royal court" the deep voice of Mr. Holmes came from the other side of the living room, for instance I turned to look at him horrified but at the same time amazed.

Nothing came out of my mouth but the words he'd told me the day before were still echoing in my head.

"Good morning, Elise" Mr. Holmes smiled at me from the couch where he was sitting.

"Morning, Mr. Holmes" I replied returning the gesture at him.

"Sherlock, please…I don't like titles" I nodded and bit my lips softly. Somehow this man scared me. And why should I be scared? You must be wondering, well quite simple…

HE JUST THREW A FUCKING KNIFE AT ME.

"Sherlock, have you seen Hamish's coat…oh" John came out of the hallway and looked at me, he then proceeded to greet me. "Hello, Elise".

My entire body gave a sigh of relief when I saw John coming in the living room and grabbing a small blue coat.

"You seem cold, coffee?" Sherlock stood up from his seat and walked to the kitchen.

"I, Uh…" I looked back at John who made me a gesture to say no. "Sure, coffee is great" John rolled his eyes. That wasn't my fault, I was never taught to say no to a host.

"Sherlock, why don't you go and finish dressing Hamish, I can manage with the coffee" John took the cup of coffee from Sherlock's hands.

"Two sugars…do not add milk, we don't need an ambulance here" Sherlock responded and went to help the kid upstairs.

A small chuckle came out of my mouth as I took off my coat and placed it on the sofa.

"How does he do that?" I asked John as he handed me the cup of coffee. "I mean, Molly told me you both solved criminal cases and stuff like that, and she also told me about Mr. Holmes's ability to deduce…" I took a sip from the coffee.

"Well…science of deduction…he never stops to amaze me either" He invited me to take a seat.

We both hung into a conversation where he explained me about Hamish's behavior. Apparently the kid was very calm and obedient; he would take piano lessons from three to four every Monday and Tuesday.

"So, that means you're leaving…for more than a week?" My cup of coffee was now empty. I placed it over a napkin in the small table in front of me.

"Looks like it" John leaned forward and looked at the fireplace. "But don't worry, we'll be back as soon as we solve the case" a confident tone covered his voice, such as his expression.

"Ready, John?" Sherlock said as he entered to the living room with his coat on and tied up his scarf around his neck.

"Why can't I come with you?" A small voice could be heard saying this behind Sherlock.

I looked down to the boy who'd spoken. He looked so much like Mr. Holmes, but he somehow resembled John as well.

"It could be dangerous, and besides you have to go to school" Sherlock kneeled to be at his same height.

"School is for babies, I want to go with you" the kid crossed his arms in front of his chest but Sherlock just chuckled a bit.

"Oh please, I am pretty sure that when we come back you won't let Elise leave, right?" John said as he placed a hand on Hamish's hair.

The boy raised his head and his blue eyes looked from John to me. I waved my hand at him and smiled; he just ignored me.

"We'd better get going, Elise, are you coming?" John called and I put on my coat and hat.

We took a cab to the train station and during the trajectory Hamish sat far from me, Sherlock looked out the window and John was talking through his phone. Hamish would glance at me more than once, I caught him doing it and just smiled at him like before, but he just leaned against John and hugged his arm.

I didn't know if John and Sherlock were a married couple, maybe they weren't but they had a child. It was very hard to find gay couples with kids these days, it was not very acceptable coming from society but I always thought that nobody tells you who you should love, it just happens.

I seemed unable to hold my tears back as I saw John and Sherlock saying goodbye to Hamish. I never liked goodbyes, and I sucked at them.

"Be good to Elise, and do not make experiments okay?" Hamish nodded before John placed a kiss on his forehead.

"One for Poky too" the kid was referring to his stuffed bear, which he never let go at any second since I first saw him. The bear was missing an eye and had a red bowtie. John just smiled and kissed the bear too and Hamish giggled.

Sherlock's watery eyes were noticeable, but he hugged Hamish after taking a deep breath. The boy hugged him back with his arms around Sherlock's neck.

"I love you, poppa" Hamish said in a barely audible voice but still very clear to understand.

It seemed hard for Sherlock to reply to his son's comment. He just closed his eyes and kissed Hamish's head before speaking.

"I love you too, Hamish" The detective let go of his son and turned to look at me. I wiped the tears out of my eyes and got closer to grab Hamish's little hand in mine as his parents got into the train. A man with a whistle started to call the remaining people to get in the train. Then the engine started moving and after a matter of seconds, the train disappeared in the distance leaving just a path of white smoke behind…and a little boy at my charge.


	3. Chapter 3

There were no words, just glancing between Hamish and me. The boy was holding a cup of hot chocolate I made for him when we got back to the flat and Mrs. Hudson had given me some biscuits, but he wouldn't even eat in front of me.

He wasn't shy, or at least that's what John told me about him. I tried to remember all the things he liked and what he didn't like. Then I remembered that by taking care of a child you must have communication with them, or well, that's what the specialists at college told us.

"So, Hamish" the boy looked up at me "Your daddy told me about what you like but..." I lowered my tone and Hamish raised his eyebrows "I forgot almost everything…".

"You are Molly's cousin" Hamish said taking me by surprise "I like Molly, she's a nice lady" he looked down at his hot chocolate. Maybe John told him about Molly and our relationship.

"How do you know?" I asked but his indifferent blue eyes just stared at me and my smile disappeared.

He didn't answer.

"He's a very playful boy actually" Molly said while we were sitting in the living room and Hamish did his homework in the kitchen "there's also times where he reminds me of Sherlock" she giggled.

"I don't know much about his father, he seems like a very reserved man, not like John" Molly had told me very few things about both of them. I knew Mr. Holmes was a consulting detective, the only one in the world, but that was it, I didn't know much about his persona.

"Sherlock might be scary at first, but it's just that mask of him what you see" Molly left her cup of tea on the small table. "You just have to give them time to know them better, and for them to know you better" She said leaning back on the sofa.

I looked down at my cup of tea thinking of what she'd say. Suddenly my phone buzzed in message alert, I took it from the table and stared confused at the screen.

**Tick-tock**

"What is it?" Molly asked after seeing my expression "Elise?" she called again making me snap out of my staring.

"Sorry, a message…must be the wrong number" I left the phone back in the table and turned to look back at the kitchen, Hamish wasn't there anymore. He'd just left his books in a well ordered pile.

"I must go" Molly got up from the sofa and put on her coat "We should have a picnic this Friday, you bring Hamish and I'll take the food" I walked her to the door.

"Sure, I just hope he likes me by that time" we laughed and said goodbye before I closed the door of the flat.

John told me I'd be staying at their flat and that they had a room for me, my things were already in the room. I took my level of blood pressure and registered 98 which was good and proceeded to take my medicine pills.

"Are you alright?" a small voice made me jump and I almost choked with the pill, I drank some water and turned to look at Hamish who was sitting in a black single leather couch across the living room.

"Yes, I am fine" I smiled at him before joining him on the other side of the living room; my eyes glanced at the fire consuming the wood. There was silence as we both were sitting there. I turned to look at the boy several times, he wouldn't stop looking at the fireplace and somehow he reminded me of my little brother.

"Fascinating, isn't it?" he said in a barely audible voice but without looking at me.

"Indeed" I replied bringing my legs up in the couch and wrapping my arms around them.

"I don't need a babysitter, did you know?" I could clearly hear the tone of Sherlock's voice when he spoke.

"Yes, but your parents wouldn't let you all on your own" He was now looking at me as I spoke. After a few minutes he got up from the couch and left to his room. I just took a deep breath thinking of how difficult could this be, then I headed to my room and slept.

I prepared some scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. I wasn't sure if Hamish would like them but I was at least trying to make him like me. My little brother liked when I used to make breakfast for him. Mom was never around before we'd go to school so I learned to cook by myself when I was just 10. It turned into a habit and then I started enjoying it by the time I turned 12. Lasagna was one of my specialties and I used to prepare it when we had our family time every Friday. We would watch three movies, one after another, and ended up playing Pictionary or Scrabble.

There were two plates set on the dining table with their respective glasses filled with orange juice. A cup of coffee was placed beside my plate; I grabbed it and took a sip of the sweet milky coffee, it was perfect for this kind of days where the entire buildings felt cold. We were starting spring but the weather was still cold, sometimes it'd rain, but for a very short time.

The sound of footsteps coming from the hallway snapped me out of my thinking, and then Hamish arrived to the kitchen. He headed straight to the fridge, opened the door and looked for something.

"Where's the milk?" Hamish turned to look at me.

"Good morning to you too" I replied at the time I took a glass and poured some milk in it and gave it to him smiling "Here you go" Hamish looked at me, his eyes being as suspicious as before; he took a sip from the milk before taking a seat in the table. So did I.

"What's this?" Hamish took the fork that was lying beside his plate and poked the food several times.

"Oh, those are scrambled eggs" I took a small portion from my plate and started eating. Hamish glanced at me and then he sighed.

I was just hoping he wasn't allergic to any of that by the time he started eating. He seemed to think in how awful it tasted and I was waiting for him to throw me his plate and yell at me about how awful it was. But instead he kept on eating until he finished leaving the entire plate clean. I was at the half of eating my portion when I noticed he'd finished and he was now drinking the rest of his glass of milk.

"Did you like it?" I asked and Hamish nodded "Do you want more?" the boy nodded again.

"Please" Hamish answered as he stood up and poured more milk in his glass. I took his plate and put more scrambled eggs on his plate. He sat down again and kept on eating.

Silence was sure one of those things this flat could contain and I wondered if Hamish was actually okay with it. John mentioned Hamish was quite serious around people he didn't know, but that would change with time. Talking about time, I turned my eyes and looked at the clock.

"God! It's almost time to take you to school" I took the empty plates and put them on the dish washer.

"I don't want to go" Hamish said crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"You have to, I also have to go to work and nobody would be here to take care of you" I replied putting the leftovers on a topper and inside the fridge.

"Mrs. Hudson could take care of me" I didn't want to argue with him now…not now. I had to think of something. Kids like him would negotiate. Yes, negotiations would work.

"Listen" I started "What if we go to where I work after school, Hm?".

"And where's that, exactly?" the boy asked curious.

"You'll see after school" I grabbed his hand and walked with him to his room. His uniform was hanging from the door of the wardrobe "Now you better change your clothes, I'll wait downstairs".

I was making sure I'd grabbed the flat keys and put them into my purse. Molly had been texting me like crazy, she said she needed help at the morgue. While I checked all the messages I stumbled with the very last one I'd received last night. _Tick, Tock. _

I was really hoping this was some sort of bad joke just to get me on my nerves. Gary, one of my last friends from college, used to make pranks on me when I got stressed. According to him I would get better with these jokes, which was a lie because my stress got worse until the point I had headaches. I swear I was about to have one if I received another message like this one.

Hamish and I took a cab; I left him at his school and promised to pick him up at 1 pm. As I made my way to the hospital my phone buzzed again.

**_How's Hamish?_**

**_-JW_**

I replied he was fine, of course. It took just five minutes to get a reply. John asked if he was being nice to me, I responded that he was actually. I didn't mention he acted a bit rude telling me he didn't need a babysitter but after giving him scrambled eggs and making some negotiations, we were starting to understand each other.

Well that was one big step, or so I thought.


	4. Chapter 4

The hospital was quite calm by the time I arrived with my hands into the pockets of my coat and greeted some other coworkers on the way to Dr. Garill's office. He had not arrived yet when I took off my coat and only kept my nurse outfit.

"Ah, Elise good morning"

I turned to meet Jen who had just arrived too and started to take off her coat. I smiled at her before I knelt to tie the knots of my shoes.

"I heard you're babysitting Dr. Watson's child" Jen said as she tied her hair in a ponytail and I stood straight again.

"Yeah, who told you that?" I asked being kind of confused.

"Everybody in the hospital knows, dear" Jen giggled and smiled at me and we both started walking down the hallway heading to the children section "Hamish is a very special boy, just like his father".

"By special you mean he can solve crimes just like him?" I chuckled.

"He's got detective blood rushing through his veins" Jen's tone of voice got lower "He discovered where the corpse of one of their neighbor's dog had been buried"

I don't know how my expression looked but Jen could read surprise in all of it and said "Exactly…the kid is a genius, not to mention he has won several math and history competitions. Oh, and chemistry".

"That is surprisingly impressive, but…how?" I asked and Jen clearly knew what I was talking about and she laughed.

"I don't know the whole story, just that some woman lent them her womb and then voila…baby on board" Jen said smiling pleasantly "She owed that to them after they helped her to put her brother into prison. The bastard killed their father and their younger brother who protected her from being stabbed. Of course the woman got traumatized but she recovered pretty fast. John wanted to have children and this woman signed up".

"That was really fond of her to do" I replied after the entire story as we both entered to the children section.

"But how did you meet them?" Jen asked me as she plugged a transparent wire to an I.V. bag that hung beside a blonde boy. He was at least ten years old and got into the hospital after being diagnosed with diabetes. The poor kid arrived with high levels of sugar on his blood three days ago and we were still stabilizing him.

"My cousin introduced us" Jen knew Molly pretty well. They used to be neighbors at the medicine faculty a few years ago, and when I started college Molly introduced us. I never thought of her being one of my best friends by now.

"Ah, Molly" Jen smiled. "She used to take care of Hamish a while back, but you know…work's got her pretty occupied lately".

"yeah, I remember she told me about the kid...and how special he was".

"Don't worry, he'll like you with the time…and you know how to get to a child's heart better than me".

"If you're talking about food, then I nailed it today" we both laughed and kept checking Brett's sugar levels. We taught him how to use the insulin and the amount that he was going to be injecting from now on. Then I noticed the smile on his face and knew he was going to be okay.

"You'll be okay" I said and his big round gray eyes switched from the I.V. wire to meet mine.


End file.
